Valve



July 7, 1942 C. F. JOHNSON VALVE Filed Aug. 16, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l CF f A I7 5 0 7 INVENTOR.

. y 1942. c. F. JOHNSON 2,289,270

VALVE Filed Aug. 16, 1941 V 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F fonson.

INV ENT OR.

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Patented July 7, 1942 VALVE Charles F. Johnson, Houston, Tex., assignorto Reed Roller Bit Company, Houston, Tex., a corporation of TexasApplication August 16, 1941, Serial No. 407,175 4 Claims. (01. 251-402)This invention relates to valves, and has for its general object theprovision of a valve in which the destructive action of the fluidcontrolled by the valve on the valve closure elements will be reduced toa minimum.

It has been proposed in previous valve constructions to provide valvesin which the closure members are lifted away from their seats in orderthat they might be moved laterally with respect to their seats with areduced frictional resistance. In such arrangements in the past,however, the lifting of the closure member from its seat has dependedupon the frictional resistance to movement offered by the closuremember. That is, when an opening movement was exerted on the valveclosure member, if there was a high frictional resistance to movement ofsuch member, then the opening effort would be expended partially inlifting such member from its seat so as to reduce the frictionalresistance. When the member is urged from its seat, however, with asufficient force to reduce its frictional resistance below a certainpoint, it will begin to slide sidewise with respect to its seat withoutactually being lifted off its seat.

It is highly desirable, however, especially with structures in which theseats are all formed of relatively soft material, that the closuremembers be lifted completely away from their seats before being movedlaterally to any substantial degree, so that the material of the seatwill not be torn or injured by the lateral sliding of the closure memberthereon.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a valvestructure in which the closure members will first be lifted directlyaway from their seats before being moved laterally with respect theretoin opening the valve.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a structure of thetype referred to in which the valve closure members will be held out offrictional contact with their seats until they are in position directlyopposite their seats, whereupon they may be allowed to move directlytoward their seats instead of with a sliding movement over their seats.

Another object of this invention is to provide a valve of the typereferred to in which the segments may be held against seating upon anyportion of the valve structure during any desired portion of the openingand closing movement thereof.

Another object of this invention is to provide a valve structure inwhich the corrosive eliects of the liquid controlled by the valve willbe minimized.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent fromthe following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein are set forth by way of example and illustrationcertain embodiments of this invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows a vertical transverse cross section through a valveconstructed in accordance with this invention, the carrier in thisinstance being illustrated in elevation and shown in closed position;

Fig. 2 is a view of the same valve shown partly in horizontallongitudinal cross section and partly in top plan with the valve coverplate removed;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. l but illustrating only the housing andliner of the valve without the valve carrier, closure members or coverplate in position;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to the lower portion of Fig. 2 but illustratingthe valve in open position;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to the upper portion of Fig. 2 but illustratingthe valve in a semiclosed position, but during the opening movementthereof;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but showing the valve in semi-closedposition during the closing movement thereof;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Figs. 5 and 6 but showing a slightlymodified form of valve in fully open position.

Referring to Fig. l, the numeral l indicates the valve housing. Thishousing provides a cylindrical valve chamber closed at its lower end asshown at 2 by an integral closure and at its upper end as shown at 3 bya separate cover plate. .This cover plate may be held in place by studsand nuts 4 or by any other suitable means. Leading from the cylindricalvalve chamber in opposite directions are ports 5 and 6 either of whichmay serve as the inlet and the other as the outlet for the valve.

Carried within the valve body and forming a liner therefor is acylindrical member I open at both ends and having a laterally extendingflange 8 at its upper end adapted to seat upon a gasket 9 carried on ashoulder Iii adjacent the upper end of the cylindrical chamber. Thisliner 1 has cut out portions or segments providing openings which aremuch larger than and surrounding the inlet and outlet ports 5 and E.

Carried in these openings are segmental seating members ll formed ofrubber or the like molded over a suitable core or frame [2 of relativelystrong metal or other material for supporting the rubber seat andholding it in shape.

A valve carrier I3 is rotatably mounted within the interior of the linerI by means of a pintle l4 adjacent its lower end, said pintle engagingthe socket i5 in the lower end of the valve housing. The upper end ofthe carrier is rotatably supported by means of the stem [8, which passesthrough an opening in the cover plate 3. Leakage along this stem isprevented by means of packing IT in the stufling box formed in the coverplate, this packing being compressed by means of a gland E8 held down bystuds and nuts l9 or the like.

The carrier itself is of a size such that it does not contact either theliner l or the seats-H, which are carried thereby. This valve carrierhas an opening thcrethrough in one direction so that when in oneposition it will provide a passage directly through the valve chamberfrom one port 5 to the other port 55 or vice versa. Also carried uponthis carrier are two closure segments 23 and 2! respectively, which areadapted to seat against the seat inserts ll. when the carrier is movedto closed position. These closure members and 2! each have on oppositeends thereof lugs 22 providing inclined faces adapted to be engaged byhooks 24 on the carrier. Thus, when the carrier is rotated as in movingfrom closed to open position, the action of the hooks 24 upon theinclined surfaces of the lugs 22 will tend to draw the segments awayfrom their seats and toward the center of rotation of the carrier.

In accordance with this invention, each of the lugs 22 is also providedwith a raised portion 25 on its outer surface, which portion is adaptedto slide along the adjacent portion of the liner 1. The liner 1 isprovided throughout portions of its circumference adjacent its oppositeends of the liner with raised portions 25, which act as rails upon whichthe projections 25 ride. These rails terminate, as illustrated, at thepoints occupied by the projections 25 when the valve is in fully closedposition, so that they will not prevent the valve closure elements 20and 2| from seating against the seat ll when the valve is in closedposition. However, when opening movement of the valve is begun, the endsof the rails 26 will prevent rotative movement of the closure membersuntil the closure members have moved inwardly toward the center ofrotation of the carrier a sufficient amount to permit the projections25- to ride up on the rails 25. The segments 20 and 2| will then be heldout of frictional engagement with the inner wall of the liner 1 as longas the projections 25 are riding on the rails 26, and the extent of thisengagement will, of course, be determined by the extent of the rails 26.In the forms shown in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, the rails 28 are of suchan extent as to hold the segments out of frictional contact with theinner surface of the liner at all times except when the valve is infully closed position. The form shown in Fig. '7 is identical to thatjust described except for the fact that the rails 26' in this form arecaused to terminate at 2'! in a position such that when the valve isfully opened the projections 25 will not be in contact with the rails25' and the valve segments may, therefore, seat against the inner wallof the housing when the valve is fully opened.

In operation, the valve closure members will contact their seats andprevent the flow of fluid when the valve is in closed position exactlythe same as in the structures of the prior art. However, when theopening movement of the valve is begun, the first movement of the valvesegments with respect to their seats will be a movement which willactually move them out of frictional contact with their seats. Therewill not be merely a lifting effort exerted upon the valve segments soas to reduce friction between them and their seats, but the valvesegments will actually be lifted away from their seats before anyrotative movement of the closure members can take place. When the valveclosure members are thus moved away from their seats until theprojections 25 can ride up on the rails 26, and only after this hastaken place, there may be a rotative movement of the valve segments toopen position, which position is illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings.It will be seen by reference to Fig. 5 that during the opening movementof the valve the segments will be held out of contact with the innersurface of the liner I during this entire movement, and that when thevalve is open the segments will still be held out of contact with theinner wall of the liner as shown in Fig. 4. Being so held out of contactwith the inner wall of the liner while the valve is in open position,there will be no tendency for the formation of precipitates from thefluid being handled to cause the valve segments to stick in openposition and there will be no hindrance to the closing movement of thevalve even after it has been open for a long period of time. This may befound highly desirable for certain types of surfaces depending upon thenature of the fluid being handled and other factors such as pressure,temperature and the like.

In other cases, it may be found desirable that the segments seat againstthe inner surface of the liner when in open position and this can beaccomplished as illustrated in Fig. 7 by causing the termination of therails at an appropriate point so that when the valve is fully open theprojections 25 will not be on the rail.

On closing movement of the valve, it will likewise be held out offrictional contact with the liner by the rails 26 or 26' as the case maybe. This is clearly illustrated in Fig. 6 of the drawings. By this meansany frictional resistance to the closing movement of the valve due tothe pressure of the fluid being handled may likewise be eliminated.Furthermore, it will be noted that no valve closure member can be slidsidewise onto its seat any more than it can be slid sidewise from itsseat. Instead, each closure member will be held out of frictionalcontact with the liner and with its seat until it is in positiondirectly opposite the opening through its seat. Thereupon, it will becaused to move in a substantially radial direction toward its seat withvery little rotative movement as it seats.

It will be appreciated that while this invention has been illustrated inconnection with a valve employing a liner for holding the valve seatelements, a difierent construction might be employed in which no lineris used and in which the valve seat elements are held by appropriatemeans car ried by the valve housing. It will further be ap parent thatthe rails 25 or 26' in such instances could be formed directly on thevalve housing or on some other appropriate part, as desired.

It will further be appreciated that while this invention is particularlyadvantageous when used in connection with a valve employing soft orresilient valve seats, it is not limited to use with such valve but maybe used with valves not employing such seats.

It will be appreciated that by the foregoing invention, there has beenprovided a valve in which the valve closure members may be movedlaterally to and from seating position but will be held out offrictional contact with the Walls of the valve chamber or its liner atall times when it is not specifically desired that they come in contactwith such chamber or liner. It is further noted that by means of thisinvention the closure members of a valve may be held out of engagementwith the valve body and the valve seats at all points desired, both inthe opening and closing movement of the valve, and while the valve isfully opened, and may be caused to seat at such points as may bedesired.

It will further be appreciated that by this invention is provided ameans whereby a valve closure member may be positively caused to movefirst directly away from the seat before being moved in a lateraldirection in the opening of the valve, and that in the closing movementof the valve it will be held away from its seat until it is directlyopposite its seat when it will be moved directly toward its seat.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A valve comprising a valve body having a cylindrical chamber thereinand ports communicating with said chamber, a carrier rotatably mountedin said chamber co-axially thereof, segmental closure members positionedin said chamber for circumferential movement to and from positions toclose said ports and for radial movement away from the wall of saidchamber, cooperating means on the closure members and carrier forretracting the closure members and displacing the same, rail-likeelements extending circumferentially about portions of said chamberadjacent the ends thereof, and means carried by the closure membersadjacent the ends thereof and adapted to engage the ends of saidrail-like elements when the closure members are in port closing positionto prevent displacement of said closure members by the carrier untilsaid members are retracted and to ride on said rail-like elements duringdisplacement of said members from port closing position.

2. A valve comprising a valve body having a cylindrical chamber thereinand ports communicating with said chamber, a carrier rotatably mountedin said chamber co-axially thereof, segmental closure members positionedin said chamber for circumferential movement to and from positions toclose said ports and for radial movement away from the wall of saidchamber, cooperating means on the closure members and carrier forretracting the closure members and displacing the same, rail-likeelements extending circumferentially about portions of said chamberadjacent the ends thereof, and means carried by the closure members andadapted to engage the ends of said rail-like elements when the closuremembers are in port closing position to prevent displacement of saidclosure members by the carrier until said members are retracted and toride on said rail-like elements during displacement of said members fromport closing position, said rail-like elements merging into the chamberwall adjacent the port opening position of the closure members to enablesaid members to again seat against their seats and to retract saidmembers as they move from port opening to port closing position.

3. A valve comprising a valve body having a cylindrical chamber thereinand ports communicating with said chamber, a carrier rotatably mountedin said chamber coaxially thereof, segmental closure members positionedin said chamber for circumferential movement to and from positions toclose said ports and for radial movement away from the wall of saidchamber, resilient seating means on the wall of the chamber, cooperatingmeans on the closure members and carrier for retracting the closuremembers and displacing the same, rail-like elements extendingcircumferentially about portions of said chamber adjacent the endsthereof, and means carried by the closure members adjacent the endsthereof and adapted to engage the ends of said rail-like elements whenthe closure members are in port closing position to prevent displacementof said closure members by the carrier until said members are retractedand to ride on said rail-like elements during displacement of saidmembers from port closing position.

4. A valve comprising a valve body having a cylindrical chamber thereinand ports communicating with said chamber, a carrier rotatably mountedin said chamber coaxially thereof, segmental closure members positionedin said chamber for circumferential movement to and from positions toclose said ports and for radial movement away from the wall of saidchamber, resilient seating means on the wall of said chamber,cooperating means on the closure members and carrier for retracting theclosure members and displacing the same, rail-like elements extendingcircumferentially about portions of said chamber adjacent the endsthereof, and means carried by the closure members and adapted to engagethe ends of said rail-like elements when the closure members are in portclosing position to prevent displacement of said closure members by thecarrier until said members are retracted and to ride on said rail-likeelements during displacement of said members from port closing position,said rail-like elements merging into the chamber wall adjacent the portopening position of the closure members to enable said members to againseat against their seats and to retract said members as they move fromport opening to port closing position.

CHARLES F. JOHNSON.

